Week #14 in Hannover (26 May 2014). Reese's letter was full of praise for his Hannover district leader and for the district in Gottingen.  He's clearly taking great pride when the districts within his stewardship succeed.  They had four investigators at church on Sunday and just continued to plug away at their missionary efforts.  Here is a photo of Reese with a Ghanaian friend and a photo of their meal:

Week #13 in Hannover (19 May 2014). The big news of the week was that Reese bought a suit.  Here is a photo:

Reese said he'd gotten a great deal at Primack.  Here's a zone meeting photo and one of Reese digging into a dinner they made:

Week #12 in Hannover (12 May 2014). Reese described another productive week of missionary work, including a couple of investigators who came to Church and whose feelings for the gospel seem to be deepening.  He told about an investigator who took six missionaries to a fancy asparagus restaurant and then out for ice-cream.  He was astounded by the generosity.  Here are a few photos from the week:

Week #11 in Hannover (5 May 2014).  Reese's email was titled "3 Transfers!", which happily signified that he would be staying with Elder Atkinson for another 6-week transfer.  He was  pleased:  "It is exciting to have another transfer here in Hannover with Elder Atkinson. We are due for some success and so we are going to work really hard."  Here is a photo from their District Meeting this week:

 

They had a Missionary Leadership Council in Berlin on Friday.  Reese said that there were a lot of new ZLs and that he was starting to feel like one of the experienced ones.  Here are three photos, including a collage photo of different members, of the missionary leadership council:

Reese said:  "MLC is always a good time."  Here a couple of photos from their trip up to Berlin, with Elder Atkinson and, in the last photo, with Elder Atkinson and Sister Schoepf, one of the sister training leaders, in the background:

Week #10 in Hannover (28 April 2014). Reese said that the week was "a solid one, although we both felt like we could have done a little better."  His father surely remembers that feeling some weeks.  It's amazing how few he seems to have had and even the letter seemed filled with missionary work each day.  A couple of letter excerpts that give some insight into the nature of the work they are doing and the number of cultures to which they are constantly exposed:  "We visited Göttingen's DM on Wednesday and it was really solid.  Elder Barr is just a solid missionary.  After the DM we ate some döner together and that was good.  Did I tell you that his comp, Elder Pinyon, is from Queensland [Reese lived in Queensland for a couple of months while his father was teaching there]?  He is a cool missionary, and misses Vegemite, although I dont know why. After DM we tausched with Braunschweig. I stayed in BS with Elder Bowman (3rd transfer missionary). We did a lot of finding and found one younger girl. During the conversation her boyfriend came over and kissed her, and then walked away. Got to protect your territory! Haha.  Found two more investigators in the morning before we had to tausch back.  Friday we were in Bad Fallingbostel....  We taught _____, _____, and _______.  They made us Jalaf rice, a classic Ghanian dish, and it was pretty solid. We had a really good discussion about the plan of salvation, and they asked some pretty deep questions. Origin of God? Yeah that was kind of hard to explain, but they are intelligent so it helps. At night we visited ______ and tried to teach a bit of the 1st lesson. We had a member from Braunschweig who can speak persian on the phone, but it was still hard." Here are a couple of photos of some cooking efforts, including a so-called "mountain man breakfast" about which Reese and Elder Atkinson sounded quite pleased:

 

Week #9 in Hannover (21 April 2014).  A couple of short excerpts from Reese's letter:  "Last week was pretty good, although we are going to have to push our baptismal dates back a little bit. Just have to meet a little bit more and make sure everyone gets to church.  By the way. if you remember _____ from Chemnitz, he was baptized this week!  Isnt that amazing? I knew it would happen at some point :).... Tuesday we had District Meeting and then ate with Schwester _________.  Had some solid brats. Did some finding in Stöcken. All the zone members were finding at the same time. We had hoped to see more results from it, and we were one of two companionships to find anyone. Too bad... We visited the DM in Braunschweig on Wednesday and then tausched with Göttingen afterwards. Gotta love riding in the train all day." Here are a couple of photos of their p-day excursion on what is called the "Red Path" in Hannover:

Week #8 in Hannover (14 April 2014). Here is a short excerpt from Reese's letter:  "This week was a solid one. I think we were both just excited that we don't really have any more big meetings coming up. I like going to them, but it is a lot better to just be working hard and staying focused. Train rides detract from focusing, or so Ive noticed....  Leadership Training Meeting in Hamburg. It seems like I am up there more often lately.  Good city though.  Elder Karlen is a DL in Bremen now, so I got to see him up there too.... Zone Training Meeting on Wednesday....  ZTM went pretty well, although the Zone is really quiet.  It was really noticable with the singing.... Oh well.  We gave a Thema on inviting people and it went really well.... Had another lesson with ______. We taught about the commandments. It was a really good lesson, and I wont forget it soon. The Atonement is great....  The week was just solid. I am excited also to stop having so many meetings. I know that sounds lame, but it is good to focus on the work finally. Jump Alert is going well, and we play bball in the mornings a lot.  Have to wake up at 6am, but it is worth it.  Life is good."  And here are a couple of photos from the Zone Training Meeting, one serious and one silly, as usual:

 

Week #7 in Hannover (7 April 2014). On p-day, the district played volleyball together.  Here are a couple of fun photos of the district:

They had a mission leadership council in Berlin focused on following up, which Reese said he really enjoyed.  The night before the leadership council, they stayed with Elder Haas and Elder Mitchell in Marzahn and had fun catching up.  Reese was excited that they were able to ride the first class section of the train on the way back because it was cheaper for some reason.  They were also able to watch General Conference--Saturday session on Sunday.

Week #6 in Hannover (31 March 2014). Transfers were this week and Reese was thrilled to learn that he would be staying with Elder Atkinson for another six weeks.  It was a week of tausches.  The APs were in Hannover for a tausch and then Reese was off to Hildesheim for another, which produced four new appointments in two hour of work.  They also attended district meeting in Gottingen.   The trains (bahns) were striking for part of the week, which made things challenging.  A photo of Reese opening his birthday package:

Week #5 in Hannover (24 March 2014). Reese's letter was titled "What Will You Remember When You Have Forgotten Everything" and started off:  "another great week capped off by the baptisms" of two beloved investigators.  President and Sister Kosak called to sing him happy birthday and a member knitted him some socks.  As Reese put it, using one of his go-to words:  "Solid Birthday, although it didn't necessarily feel like one."  Here is a photo of the post-baptism spread with some fun pastries and a photo of Reese on p-day:

 

Week #4 in Hannover (17 March 2014).  Reese began his letter:  "Wow, the miracles just keep on rolling."  He is having a great time in Hannover and enjoys Elder Atkinson who he says has great German.  Reese mentioned going to a Protestant Bible Circle.  Asked to pick a chapter in the New Testament, they chose Ephesians 4.  Ten investigators came to Church.  As Reese put it:  "Sunday was legendary."  The letter concluded:  "Elder Atkinson and I have been working really hard.  We both have realized that we barely even have time for ourselves and the time has really been flying by. It is ridiculous! I am super tired, but also happy."  Attached are a couple of silly photos taken during a week of being out and about.  For those of you who were not weaned on Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings, the second photo is graffiti of the Gates of Argonath--two enormous statues carved in the likenesses of Isildur (Elendil's son who cut the Ring from Sauron's finger) and his brother, Anárion, standing astride the River Anduin at the northern border of Gondor.

Week #3 in Hannover (10 March 2014).  It was another joyful week for Reese.  A sister, whose husband is a member, was baptized and Reese felt blessed by a small miracle associated with making the baptismal service happen.  They also had their zone training meeting.  Here are two photos of the zone, one serious and the other silly: